Question about ventalation, Heat, Humindity!

[ocean girl]

I recently bought my 10 yr old son a BP. We have a 33 gallon tank???
It had no lid so I made one out of plywood and drilled tons of holes in the top for ventalation. The holes are about the size of my finger??
We have an under tank stick on heat pad, covers 1\4 the tank, aspen bedding,
2 hides, water bowl, a big stick and some fake leaves.
The overall temp wasn't getting above 70ish, so we then bought a 100 watt basking light(The person at the store said we needed this). The temp still didn't rise abouve 75 ish. So then we put semi thick foam around the 3 sides. now temp is teatering at 79-80. Then the humididy wasn't much more than 50, and he is about to shed. Tryed spraying, didn't help much. Then we bought some moss and soaked it in water, then put it in a big round ceramic baking dish, The snake went in it and played for about 10 mins, so I guess he liked it. Anyways, it still didn't create much more humidity. Then I cut a peice of carboard, covered it in tinfoil and layed it over some of the holes on the lid. Still, not much more humidity! Sooo, I read some of the posts on here and people say to cover 95% of the lid and they say that works for them. My question is, is that enough ventalation? And, should I be taping it down? The pet store said they need tons of ventalation? Also, if they sleep in wet moss, isn't that bad for there skin?
I need some advice, everyone says something different.

[blushingball419]

This caresheet is a good place to start and might answer some of your questions: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...s%29-Caresheet This might help as well http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...p-w-pics-*DUW*

How are you measuring your temps and humidity? A digital thermometer/hygrometer that you can pick up at wal-mart or home depot for around $15 is the best. The most important temperature is the "hot spot" over the under tank heater where the snake will spend most of its time digesting food, etc and that needs to be around 90-92. The other side of the tank on the ground should be around 80, but if the air temp is a little lower he should be fine.

Ball pythons do need some ventilation to prevent stale air and bacteria/fungus from growing, but they definitely don't need "tons" of ventilation. The moss in the bowl is a good idea, but I would just say to mist more often and cover most of the top with aluminum foil. You also might want to try and get rid of the heat lamp since they will kill humidity, and get another small heat pad and a dimmer/thermostat to keep it at 80 for the cool side of the tank. And no, as long as the moss is just damp and not soaking wet, if your snake sleeps in it he won't hurt his skin. I can't imagine that he would choose that as a hide, but if he does it might actually be the best for him at the moment since he's going into shed.

Tanks are hard work, definitely a pain to try and keep the temps and humidity correct. That's why I'm switching to a plastic tub, much cheaper and easier!! The only other thing I would mention is to make sure that wooden top is secure enough, I would be worried my snake would push out of it.

Hope some of this helps, and if you have any other questions feel free to ask!!

[AMBiEN22]

My girls a baby and she is only in a ten gallon but i have the same ISSUE with humidity and temps but i finally got its all figured out here is how i did it!

So this was trial number one!
Cover some of the top so it will keep in some humidity and i can boost my temps with a heat light that was on a thermostat.
PROBLEMS: Thermostat turned the light on and off and made a very loud clicking noise! DISCO INFERNO in my room. I was not happy. Also my cold side was FRIGID, bad light position.
Note I always place my water dish under the light to help slow down the humidity loss.



Trial number two that seems to be working FANTASTICALLY!
I shifted my light to the center to try to create an equilibrium understanding under the light will be hotter than the borders i took this into consideration! I set the bulb on a RHEOSTAT (A dimmer switch) So i could control how hot the bulb would run. Borders are a constant 79-81 degree range PERFECT! I spray her tank down daily with a squirt bottle and keep her humidity around 55%!
For my UTH i picked up thermostat that i wired myself to keep my UTH at aprox 90 degrees.
PROBLEMS: Spraying the cage gets annoying but its the winter seasons here so I'm hoping come summer i can ditch the light.


So all and all its finding out what works for you! When it comes to the shed though i think your taking the right steps! I was terrified that she was going to have a bad shed but to my surprise i took all of the right actions! I caught her milky blue eyes and dull skin and boosted my spraying up 50% more so the humidity was around 70% i did this for 3 days until her milky eyes went away and it looked as if she shed. Well the next morning i wake up and i see a big ball of scales i inspected her and she did it! full shed!

All of these pictures of my enclosure were taken before i got lilly! I'm sure she appreciates all the work i do for her spoiled but!

Thanks for reading hope this helps!

[AMBiEN22]

Quick re post... As you can see my tank has like maybe an inch a half inch of ventilation or were air can past through and shes fine =/ people keep snakes in tubs with wholes poked in them slid into a shelf (AKA rack system) they thrive in that enclosure with out a problem! As long as your not press and seal wrapping the enclosure to keep humidity up i think your safe =)

POST SOME PICTURES WE LOVE PICTURES!

[snakesRkewl]

Is the under tank heater controlled by a thermostat?
What are you using to measure the temps?

[ocean girl]

Thank-you everyone for your reply's.
As for your questions,
-My wooden lid is secured, I have 2 knobs, one on each end of the lid, and attatched to the knobs is string which I then hook onto hooks on either side of the tank. They are just peel and stick hooks. I would have built a screen lid but I was trying to save money and use what I had.
- As for the Under tank heater, it has no thermostat, I didn't know I needed one.
I bought some round gages for temp and humidity at the pet store and they stick to the glass. I then realized after reading posts that I need to see the temp in the hide as well, so then I bought another thermometer for $4 and I place it in the hide to see the temps. All this money on these cheap thermometers and I could have bought one good one at walmart, Ahhhh.
The after the first night with the snake, I woke up checked on him and saw that the bedding was pushed away from under the hide and the glass was showing, I touched the glass and practically burnt my finger. Thankfully the snake was not burned. So I then put a few layers of newspaper over the glass, then put the bedding on. I think the temp is 90 I will have to check again.
I'm really annoyed that when we bought him, the pet store guy didn't explain anything, he just said, buy this heat mat, put a bowl of water in and feed him once a week. I was the one who did some research and found out you needed temp and humidity gages. Then it was a different pet store that then said I needed a basking lamp for him to digest his food. Then I read that they don't bask, and the lamp takes away the humidity. So now I have this $30 lamp, $20 bulb and I can't return it cause I through out the box! As well as these crappy gages. The snake cost us $120, the heat pad was $35, and I just feel so angry that noone told me what I really needed and how much it would cost.
I would have saved up a little before hand if I knew the truth.
So anyways, whats done is done, we love the snake, his name is Oden. But I still need to figure things out with the heat and humidity. I will try more foil, I turned the basking light off this morning and just have a standing light on the outside of the tank aimed toward the tank to give off some light, because otherwise it would be dark all day.
I am confused though with, when can my son hold his snake? He likes to hold him for hours on end but isn't the snake suppose to be sleeping in the day?? anymore advice??

[snakesRkewl]

If the glass almost burned your hand it WILL burn the snake.
A thermostat is a must have for the UTH and a probed thermometer is all you need to use for reading the temperatures.
Pet stores SUCK when it comes to helping you set up a ball python tank, they rarely know how to.
The dial thermometers are garbage and don't tell you the temperatures where you want to read them.
Pick up a t-stat for the belly heat so you little one doesn't suffer the consequences and get an indoor/outdoor thermometer with a probe.
The thermometer box goes in the cool end and the probe snakes it's way over to lay directly on the glass under the substrate so you know the hottest temperature the snake can get to.
Temps I shoot for:
78-80 cool end
86-87 warm end
90-92 hot spot

Sorry you had to be introduced into the hobby in this way, it's pretty common really, sad but common.

[PitOnTheProwl]

I'm really annoyed that when we bought him, the pet store guy didn't explain anything, he just said, buy this heat mat, put a bowl of water in and feed him once a week. The snake cost us $120, the heat pad was $35, and I just feel so angry that noone told me what I really needed and how much it would cost

Welcome to BP ownership................this is how most of us got started too.

Now you get to live, learn and prosper

[AMBiEN22]

I've also heard of stories and people saying even if the snake comes in contact with a hot surface and their appears to be know burns continue to check back on the snakes belly cause it takes a while to develop. This could be completely wrong but i would check on her no harm no foul!

When it comes to handling Night time handling would be preferred as they are nocturnal i am sure people can agree on me with that. I handle my snake only once a day for 30-45 minutes.

If its a new snake i would give him/her a week to feel comfortable in the new enclosure before handling... But regardless all snakes are different and if you see the snake wandering and tongue flicking people "Say" that its a good sign they are beginning to adjust to the new surroundings.